Staff Profile

Career Summary

Biography

He is an International Coordinator of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) Connexions KB Project, USA; and a Co-Chief Editor, Handbook on Asian Education.

He has started his career as a professional university administrator and has worked as an Assistant Registrar and a Senior Assistant registrar at the University of Colombo; a Senior Asst. registrar at the University of Sri Jayewardenepurara (SJP) and Deputy Registrar and the Registrar & Secretary of the Open University of Sri Lanka from 1968-1892. He has also worked as a Visiting Lecturer at the Faculties of Arts and Management Studies of the SJP and as an external examiner for the University of Colombo since 1979.

While he was reading for his doctorate, he has worked as a part-time tutor at the School of Economics, La Trobe University from 1984-87 and in 1988 as a Sessional Academic at the School of Business Studies of the Philips Institute of Technology. In this context, he has started his full-time academic career at Faculty of Education at the University of Newcastle in January 1989. Prior to this appointment he has completed four research projects at four universities leading to a Dissertation for a Grad Diploma in International Affairs, and two Master's degree theses in Economics and Educational Administration and a PhD thesis in Educational Administration.

At the University of Newcastle, he has completed a number of individual and joint research projects and has built research collaborations with colleagues/scholars in Australia, USA, UK, China, Japan, India, Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia leading to the publication of ten (10) research-based books, 23 book-chapters and over 100 journal articles. In addition he has presented over 150 papers/seminars/invited-presentations at conferences and overseas learned forums such as in Bosnia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, Cuba, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, UK, and the USA.

Qualifications

PhD, La Trobe University

Master of Arts, University of Sri Lanka

Master of Education Administration, University of New England

Bachelor of Arts, Vidyodaya University

Research

Research keywords

Comparative & International Education including Higher Education

Educational Administration, Management & Leadership

School-Based Management/Self Governing Schools

Research expertise

Educational Administration, Management & Leadership: He has been engaged in research in this field since 1978. He has conducted joint and individual research projects in Australia, USA, UK, Japan, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Hong Kong, Philippines and Thailand and has supervised PhD projects of Australian, Hong Kong, Thai, Philippine and Indonesian students. He has published four books in this area: Gamage & Pang (2003). Leadership and Management in Education: Developing Essential Skills & Competencies, Hong Kong; Chinese Uni Press; Gamage (2006). Professional Development for Leaders and Managers in Self-Governing Schools, Dordretch, Springer; Gamage (2008). How to Develop Our Skills and Competencies in Leading and Managing Schools for a Better Future, Battaramulla, Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka (An invited publication based on seminars & workshops conducted specifically for Sri Lankan educational leaders); Gamage (2009). Leading and Managing 21st Century Schools for Improved Student Performance, Sydney, McGraw Hill (A custom publication for post-graduate students). In addition, he has published a number of journal articles and book-chapters and has made conference and invited presentations at many overseas forums.

School-Based Management: He has been engaged in research in this field since1989 and has conducted a number of research projects in New South Wales, the ACT and Victoria in Australia and smaller investigations in UK, USA, Canada, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Norway, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Fiji, and Samoa and have supervised PhD projects of Australian, Thai, Hong Kong, Philippine and Indonesian students. He has published four books in this area. Gamage (1996).School-Based Management: Theory, Research and Practice; Colombo; Zajda and Gamage (2009). Decentralisation and School Based Management, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York, Springer; Gamage (2009). School Based Management is an Alternative Path Towards the Creation of Better Schools, Centre for Education Professional Competencies Development (CEPCD) Sri Lanka; Gamage and Munasinghe (2009). Pasal Padaka Kalamanakaraya (in Sinhalese), CEPCD). He also has a significant number of journal articles and book-chapters as well as conference and invited presentations.

Higher Education: He has been engaged in research in this area since 1978 and was involved in joint & individual projects in Australia, UK, USA, Japan, China, Sri Lanka and India. He also has supervised PhD projects of Australian, Thai and Indonesian students and has three books in this area: Gamage and Ueyama (2011). Development of Higher educational Institutions: Global Perspectives. (In Japanese – in press), Tokyo; Gamage and Zajda (2007). The Secrets of Scholarly Publishing in International Journals. Melbourne, James Nicholas Publishers; Gamage (1996).Evolution of Universities and Changing Patterns of Governance & Administration, Colombo. Additionally, he has published numerous journal articles and book-chapters and has made conference and invited presentations at overseas forums.

Comparative & International Education: He has been engaged in research in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of education as well as many different international contexts and cultural settings such as in Australia, China, Japan, UK, USA, Norway, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Thailand. He has jointly edited a book: Zhao, Y, Lei, L, Li, Guofang, He, MF, Okano, K, Megahed, N, Gamage, D and Ramanathan, H (Eds.), Handbook of Asian Education: A Cultural Perspective, New York and London, Taylor and Francis and several books in School Based Management and Higher Education as referred to above. He has also published a significant number of journal articles, book-chapters and has made conference & invited presentations at overseas forums

Languages

English

Sinhalese

Fields of Research

Code

Description

Percentage

130399

Specialist Studies In Education Not Elsewhere Classified

50

130299

Curriculum And Pedagogy Not Elsewhere Classified

35

130199

Education Systems Not Elsewhere Classified

15

Memberships

Editorial Board.

Member - International Coordinator of the NCPEA Knowledge-Based Project

Appointments

Fellowship Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research (Sweden)

01/01/2002

Fellowship of the Nihon University in Japan and Nihon University Medal for outstanding contributions to the UniversityNihon University (Japan)

01/04/2006 - 01/06/2006

Appointment by invitation as an International Coordinator of National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) Knowledge-based ProjectNCPEA (United States)

01/08/2006

Awards

Award

2007

VC'S Citation AwardUniversity of Newcastle (Australia)'For outstanding leadership and scholarship in developing excellent, cutting edge courses and a program in Leadership and Management in Education'

Recognition.

2004

Plaque of Appreciation for Keynote AddressesCamarines Sur Schools Division (Philippines)A Plaque of appreciation by the Provincial Governor of the Philippines in recognition of self-less and high-level expertise as a Guest Speaker for giving two keynote addresses to the Mid-Year Conference of Camarines Sur Schools Division attended by 1003 school heads and other officials. October, 2004

University Medal

2006

Nihon University MedalNihon University (Japan)'For outstanding contributions to the University'

Invitations

Collaboration

Educational Administration and Leadership: He has conducted research on the profiles, entry perspectives and professional development of school leaders in Australia, the USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Sweden in collaboration with colleagues at the California State University Northridge (CSUN); at the College of International relations, Nihon University; at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; at the University of Colombo; and at the University of Uppsala and also with colleagues in The Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. He has published a significant number of journal articles, book-chapters and several books as referred to above.

School-Based Management/Self-Governing Schools: He has conducted five significant research projects in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South Wales public schools systems in 172 schools involving over 2000 stakeholders. The methodology included empirical surveys and over 200 interviews. In addition, he has conducted small scale research projects in Winnipeg and Edmonton Public School Systems in Canada; San Francisco, Berkeley and Los Angeles School Districts in the USA; London and Leicester LEAs in England; Hong Kong; Tromso and Oslo in Norway; Stockholm in Sweden; Bangkok in Thailand, Apia in Samoa, Suva in Fiji, Western province in Sri Lanka and Flores in Indonesia. He has published a significant number of journal articles, book-chapters and several books as referred to above

Comparative and International Education including Higher Education: He has conducted research on the institutional amalgamations between higher educational institutions; higher educational developments and reforms in Australia, the USA, Sri Lanka, China, Britain and Japan. In these projects, he has worked with colleagues at the La Trobe University; the California State University Northridge; the Nihon University; the University of Hiroshima; and at the University of Stockholm. He has published a significant number of journal articles, book-chapters, and several books as referred to above.

Administrative

Administrative expertise

He has completed a BA in Public Admin., MEdAdmin and PhD in Educational Administration. Additionally, he has 14 years of experience as a professional administrator as referred to above at three universities. He also has served as a Member of SJP University Court and a Member and Secretary of the Open University Council. In Australia, he has served as a Member of the La Trobe University Council and also as the Chair of the Clubs and Societies Council for two years. At the University of Newcastle he has served as a Member of the Faculty Boards of Education, Economics & Commerce, and Engineering. From 1996-2010, he has functioned as the Director/Convenor of the Master of Leadership & Management in Education (MLMEd) Program.

Teaching

Teaching keywords

Teaching expertise

From 1989-1996, he has taught 5-6 graduate level courses at the Newcastle Campus and Education Centres of the University at Singleton and Raymond Terrace. Since 1997, he has been teaching five courses (i.e. EDUC6016: Leadership & Strategic Management, EDUC6017: Organisational Behaviour & Managing People, EDUC6032: Introduction to Educatioal Administration, EDUC6033: Educational Administration: Theory and Practice, and EDUC6035: Administrative Behaviour & Educational Management) at post-graduate level towards the MLMEd and MEdStud at the University of Newcastle both on and off-campus modes. In addition, he has taught two year-long courses for the Doctor of Education (EdD) Program jointly. In 1994, he has offered two semester courses for the MEdAdmin Program at Faculty of Education of the University of Manitoba in Canada. In 2002, he has offered a course on 'Educational Management and Leadership' for the master's and doctoral students at the IIE of the University of Stockholm in Sweden. In addition he has taught graduate students at the Uni of Amsterdam in the Netherlands; the California State University of Northridge (CSUN) in USA; the University of Leicester in UK; The Tshingua University in China, the Universities of Hiroshima and Nihon in Japan, University of Colombo and National Institute of Education in Sri Lanka; University of South Pacific in Fiji and the University of Oslo in Norway.

Higher Degree Supervision: He has completed the successful supervision of 12 PhD students (nine of them as the sole supervisor and two as the Principal supervisor and one as a joint-supervisor). In addition, he has completed the successful supervision of five Master’s theses.

Gamage DD, 'Democratization of School Governance: How Did Australia Become a World Leader', Celebration of Fifty Years of Sri Lanka - Australia Interaction, Government Press, Colombo 446-455 (1998) [B1]

Gamage DD, Adams DN, McCormack AC, 'How does a school leader's role influence student achievements? A review of research findings and best practice', International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 4 1-16 (2009) [C1]

2009

Gamage DD, Pang NSK, 'Navigating professional development of school leaders of New South Wales (Australia) and Hong Kong', Educational Practice and Theory, 31 71-86 (2009) [C1]

Gamage DD, 'Three decades of implementation of school-based management in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria in Australia', International Journal of Educational Management, 22 664-675 (2008) [C1]

Su Z, Gamage DD, Mininberg E, 'School Reform in the New Century: A Comparison of American and Australian School Principals' Values and Visions', International Journal of Educational Reform, 14 232-249 (2005) [C1]

Conference (24 outputs)

Year

Citation

Altmetrics

Link

2012

Gamage DD, Swuwanabroma J, 'Development of Buddhist education systems in Sri Lanka and Thailand: A comparative perspective', The 40th Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society (ANZCIES), Christchurch, NZ (2012) [E3]

2011

Gamage DD, 'Globalization and asian education in the 21st century: Buddhist cultural perspective in a selected sample', American Educational Research Association 2011 Annual Meeting: Inciting the Social Imagination, New Orleans, LA (2011) [E3]

San Antonio D, Gamage DD, 'Democratic school leadership: Its impact on the commitment of educational stakeholders', Proceedings of the Australian Association for Research in Education 2006 Annual Conference, Adelaide (2007) [E2]

2005

Gamage DD, Zajda J, 'A Comparative Study of Self-Governing Schools Models: Unity and Diversity', Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society, Melbourne, Australia (2005) [E1]

2005

Gamage DD, Zajda J, 'How to Improve the Chance of Getting Your Research Published in a Refereed Journal', Annual Conference CEIS, Salt Lake City (2005) [E2]

Gamage DD, 'A comparative study of profiles, entry perspectives and professional development of school leaders in Australia, Japan and the USA', NZEALS National Conference: Growing Educational Leaders, Dunedin, New Zealand (2004) [E1]

Gamage DD, Pang NS-K, 'Profiles and perspectives of school principals on professional development in Australia and Hong Kong', 12th World Congress of Comparative Education Studies, Havana, Cuba (2004) [E2]